Powder Blue Report

News, finance, politics, sports, and fun from the west coast

Friday, August 31, 2007

2007 UCLA Football Outlook

This is my annual UCLA Football outlook. I have have been pretty pessimistic the last few years on the football program. This year provides a little more room for optimism. We beat the hated Trojans in the battle of LA last year which knocked them out of the national championship game. That was sweet. We followed that huge game up with a resounding thud against Florida St in our bowl game. This year we are returning 10 starters on defense and six on offense. Coach Dorrell has named Ben Olsen as the starter over SC game hero Pat Cowan. I'm not sure if I agree with this decision, but its Karl's call. His ass should be on the line this year. If we don't have a good season, he should be fired. This is his fifth year. There's no more room for any excuses. My prediction is a 9 win season. We have some pretty good games lined up on the schedule. Notre Dame visits the Rose Bowl for the first time in a long time. We have a little unfinished business against the Domers from last years collapse at the end of the game. Opening day is tomorrow up at the farm against Stanford. Chalk up a W.

Bush Bailout

So I'm watching President Bush on CNBC right now announce that he is bailing out homeowners who can't make their mortgage payments. I'm sick to my stomach watching him. He's trying to spin that this is not a bailout just like he tried to spin that his his immigration plan wasn't amnesty. In other words, he's not believable at all.

Wednesday, August 29, 2007

OC Register Taking Notice Of Our Irvine Ron Paul Meetup Group

Martin Wisckol of the OC Register/Total Buzz Blog has done a nice post about our Irvine Ron Paul Group taking the number one ranking in fundraising right now out of all 800 Ron Paul Meetup groups in the country. It's nice to get some positive PR from the MSM once in awhile. Pretty soon they are going to forced to cover this huge grassroots campaign taking shape. There's a lot more big news in store to for Ron Paul's California effort which I will announce next week. If you heard State Senator Tom McClintock's interview with Dr. Paul last week that I posted here, you will probably know what is coming down the pike.

Irvine Ron Paul Meetup Is #1 In Country Right Now!!!

Great job Irvine Ron Paul Meetup. We are number one in the nation right now out of almost 800 Meetup groups in fundraising for Dr. Paul. I love being number one. Let's do all we can to blow away the competition in the last two days.

Todd Marinovich Arrested Again In Newport

This is a very sad story. Ex Mater Dei/USC/Raider quarterback Todd "marijuanavich" Marinovich was arrested down in Newport the other day for evading police and drug possession. This is about the umpteenth time this has happened over the last fifteen years. What a waste of God given talent. He obviously has a huge addiction problem. I'd like to remember him as the guy I had a few classes with and played football with at Mater Dei. I hope he gets his life straightened out.

Monday, August 27, 2007

Could Juan Zarate Be the Next Attorney General???

It's a longshot, but my former Mater Dei HS football teammate Juan Zarate has a shot at the top legal job in the country after Alberto Gonzales resigned today. He has a lot of things in his favor. The first thing is he's hispanic. Secondly, he's got a great pedigree... Magna Cum Laude Harvard Law, he's worked his way up the ladder at the DOJ first as a deputy in the financial crimes division rooting out terrorism financing and currently as Assistant Secretary for terrorist financing. It would be nice to personally know the AG of the United States. If GWB were smart, he'd nominate Juan ASAP. He is the energizer bunny when it comes to work.

Mitt Romney & Sen. Larry Craig......Oh Boy

I haven't had this good of a laugh in a long time. I'm trying to picture my buddy Todd Cranney who works for the Mitt Romney for President Campaign doing some serious damage control/crisis management this afternoon. I mean after all, Gov. Romney's number one supporter in the US Senate, Larry Craig of Idaho, has revealed that he is another Republican hypocrite/bible thumper on morality. The dude got caught & pled guilty of soliciting gay sex in an airport bathroom stall for pete's sake. Nice family man he is. Let's add up the Republicans who have been busted in the last few years for being family values hypocrites...Mark Foley, David Vitter, and now Larry Craig. These are only the ones who have been caught. We're getting close to the tipping point if we haven't already reached it where our voters are just going to stay home in disgust.

Back to the Governor though. This is another major blow to Romney's campaign for President. He can't sustain many more of these body blows before GOP voters just tune him out. Here in OC, the Governor has a lot of higher ups in the party supporting him(Chairman Scott Baugh, Mike Schroeder, Cong. John Campbell, Adam Probolsky, etc). I'm wondering if they still feel Mitt was a good investment of their political capital. At some point they are going to realize this guy can't win the nomination.

Maybe Sen Craig, Sen Vitter, Congressmen Calvert, Foley can start a Congressional caucus and name it the "Lookin For Love In All The Wrong Places" caucus. By no means is this list all inclusive. Feel free to add some more names to the list in the comment section. What's scary is how many of these guys have done this sort of thing and just not been caught?

Let's Go Irvine Ron Paul Meetup

The competition to raise the most money for Ron Paul by this Friday is tight. For people not following Ron Paul Meetups, his campaign started a competition to see which Ron Paul Meetup can raise the most money for the campaign by this Friday. The winner gets a visit by the candidate out to their respective city/area. The Irvine Meetup group is currently in 9th place out of over 700 groups in the country. Let's get out there and win this thing. We're only $6700 out of first place. That's only three max out donors.

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Grover Cleveland Social Club

Grover who? You know, that guy who was President back near the turn of the 20th Century. Tonight was the first meeting of our Grover Cleveland social club and from the turnout, I'd have to say it was a huge success. The club is the brainchild of Steve Greenhut, John Seiler, and Tony Bushala who are the founding members. This is an email from Steve that describes the club and its mission:

The purpose of the club is to discuss politics and enjoy those things that the 22nd and 24th president (he was elected to two terms, non-consecutively) enjoyed: cigars, beer and good food. We'll even have some live music, although it will be a bit more hip than the music the former president enjoyed.

There is no charge. This is not a fund-raiser. It is a casual get-together and party. The guest speakers will be Orange County Supervisor Chris Norby and Orange County Register columnist Steven Greenhut.

Why Grover Cleveland?

Cleveland was probably the last great president. The one-time Buffalo mayor and New York governor stuck by his principles, even in the face of opposition from powerful interest groups. He was honorable and self-effacing. If a bill did not conform to the Constitution, he vetoed it. He was more than willing to lose the next election than to compromise his core beliefs, which were consistent with those of the founders. He rebuked special interests, refused to waste tax dollars and kept the country out of war. He believed in states' rights and stood up to powerful unions. He was a Democrat who crossed partisan lines, gaining strong support from reform-minded Republican mugwumps. Cleveland epitomized the best traditions in law enforcement -- in 1870 he was elected sheriff of Erie County, N.Y., and, as one report puts it , "carried out at least two hangings of condemned criminals, refusing to delegate such unpleasant work to others."

Members of our social club (and invitees) have diverse views, and come from different parties. We want to debate things, not preach to the choir. But, in general, we believe in limited, open government and in non-interventionism in foreign affairs. We believe that both major parties are flip sides of the same big-government, empire-building coin. We believe that elected officials should stand up for the public against special interests, and that they should have character and integrity, rather than be driven by polls, focus groups and by their own ambition. Any politician unwilling to lose an election because of taking an unpopular position is not worthy of Grover Cleveland's or our support!

Mostly, we believe in good beer, fine cigars, tasty barbecue and boisterous conversation! This is, after all, a social club that will NOT endorse politicians, help political parties, make contributions nor do anything more than meet, drink and be merry. (Memberships will be available at no charge, although some future events will have a nominal cost to cover food, cigars and beer.)

I want to thank the Bushalas for hosting us and to Steve & John for such a great idea. It was a fun night. I hope we can make this at least an annual event Steve, John & Tony(hint, hint). Oh yeah, a lot of Ron Paul supporters in the house to from what I gathered.

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Good Saturday Morning To All

I am headed out to the Crossroads of the West Gun Show over at the OC Fairgrounds. We have a huge booth for Ron Paul there. We'll be there handing out campaign literature & making converts to his campaign. Please stop by if you get a chance. The show is Saturday and Sunday. Have a great weekend.

Thursday, August 23, 2007

John Moorlach Asks County Treasurer Chriss Street To Resign

Wow. Apparently it's not a very dull day up in Santa Ana. Matt Cunningham/Jubal at OC Blog has reported that John Moorlach has indeed asked for OC Treasurer Chriss Street to resign because of some very troubling legal problems Mr. Street has. Mr. Street has refused to do so. This is stunning news. This comes on top of the revelations that Mr. Street spent lavishly re-appointing his county office. In fact at Central Committee this past Monday, Mr Street joked about himself during introductions of elected officials and people running for office that he was "Chriss Street, chief interior decorator of the Couty of Orange". It got a hearty laugh from most there, but I don't think he's laughing today. I think Supervisor Moorlach also has to accept some responsibility here. He's the one who vouched for Mr. Street and practically transferred power to him by virtue of him hiring Mr. Street as his assistant a few months before the election so Mr. Street could have as his ballot title..."Assistant Treasurer of the County of Orange". It sounds like background checks on Mr. Street were not done or there wasn't much digging done. This is shades of the issues the CRP had recently with their foreign worker hiring scandal. It's all pretty embarrassing for the party as well because they stuck their neck out to for Mr. Street.

This all comes at a time when leadership is desperately needed to navigate some rough economic times ahead. There needs to be a captain of the investment ship that's overseeing the $7 billion dollar county investment portfolio. I alluded to it the other day in my wrapup on the Central Committee meeting. I spoke with Supervisor Moorlach and asked him if the county has investments in these shaky mortgage debt bonds. There's a chance the county could get hosed if it has any investments in this stuff right now. We don't need this distraction, but it is here now and I'm afraid a huge battle royale for power at the Treasurer's office has begun.

Janet Nguyen has taken a wait and see attitude towards Mr. Street according to Total Buzz.

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Note to Gov. Romney Supporters

This would include my friend Todd Cranney who works for the Gov's campaign. Romney's negatives are higher than Hillary Clinton's according to a new Rassmussen Poll today. This is pretty damning for Romney. The conventional wisdom is that the GOP has a chance to win in 2008 if no other reason than Hillary's negatives are so high. Gov. Romney is going to have to seriously rethink about this campaign and his strategy if this trend continues for him. Of course you won't see Romney cheerleader Hugh Hewitt mention this poll, but I will be happy to point it out. Romney's campaign is built on a foundation of sand. When you don't stand on principle, you don't have much to fall back on.

Cup O' Joe & Ron Paul

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

OC Central Committee Meeting

Last night was the monthly Orange County Central Committee meeting. Our Irvine Ron Paul Meetup group met over at the Hyatt Irvine. I know we made a good impression because I heard from a lot of elected officials and Central Committee members who are very intrigued by the Ron Paul candidacy. When I told them Tom McClintock is very close to endorsing Ron, that opened a lot of eyes. It was funny also because a few people thought our group was there to raise hell...we weren't. Since I already knew a lot of members of the party at the meeting, I ended up introducing our group around. The night went very well. I think we had about fifteen members of our group show up. I'd like us to have double that at the next meeting.

As for the meeting itself, it was kinda interesting. My buddy Zach Morgan got to put in a plug for his guy Gov. Mike Huckabee at the start of the meeting. Some guy(can't remember his name) did a presentation on radical jihadism and its risks to the US. Craig Alexander made a motion that the county party pass a resolution that supports Diane Harkey and doesn't support the recall brewing against her. Chairman Baugh made a passionate plee on Diane's behalf. The resolution passed unanimously. My opinion of this recall is it sounds like sour grapes from Jim Lacy and his crew, but I don't live in Dana Point so I can't really say. Their city politics can't be as bad as it is here in Irvine I know that. I believe this recall is a political stunt to try and derail Diane's ascendency to the state Assembly.

Supervisor John Moorlach gave a great presentation on his proposal to roll back some retroactive pension benefits that the couty granted a few years ago to the Sheriff's union. Before his talk I had a chance to talk to him for a few minutes about the county's investment pool. I'm worried we might have some mortgage debt securities in the county investment portfolio. I told him it would be a good idea to have an audit of our current investments to see first if we have any such investments and second, if we do, to try and quantify the risk with these. I'd prefer if they do have any of these securities, that they be liquidated ASAP.

Monday, August 20, 2007

Illegal Immigrant Protester Is Deported

It's about time. Elvira Arellano had been on the lam for the last few years holed up in some Catholic Church in Chicago protesting her deportation order. Get over it honey. If you were as passionate about following our laws as you are advocating illegals continue breaking them, you would be a lot better off. As it stands now, you're back in Mexico where you belong. It's too bad you drug your son into this by trying to make yourself into a martyr for open borders.

Sunday, August 19, 2007

How To Get Back To Sound Money.....Parts 2-5

2. Freeze the present supply of Federal Reserve Notes, except for what will be needed in step number six

3. Define the "real" dollar in terms of precious metal content, preferably what it was in the past: 371.25 grains of silver. It could be another weight of silver or even another metal, but the old silver dollar is a proven winner.

4. Establish gold as an auxiliary monetary reserve which can be substituted for silver, not at a fixed price ratio, but at whatever ratio is set by the free market. Fixed ratios always become unfair over times as the prices of gold and silver drift relative to each other. Although gold may be substituted for silver at this ratio, it is only silver that is the foundation for the dollar.

5. Restore free coinage at the US Mint and issue silver "dollars" as well as gold "pieces". Both dollars and pieces will be defined by metal content, but only the coins with silver content can be called dollars, half-dollars, quarter-dollars, or tenth-dollars(dimes). At first, these coins will be derived only from metal brought into the Mint by private parties. They must not be drawn from the Treasury's supply which is reserved for use in step #6.

How To Get Back To Sound Money.....Part 1

So our dollar is becoming worth less & less as every day goes by. It is important IMO to offer constructive solutions to the problem. One of the best solutions being tossed out there is by G. Ed Griffin in his book The Creature From Jekyll Island. There are sixteen steps he recommends. I'm going to post these sixteen steps as a series of posts over the next week.

A Plan For Eliminating The Fed

So much for things not to do. Now let's get down to the business at hand. To abolish the Federal Reserve System would be quite simple. All that would be required is an act of Congress consisting of one sentence: The Federal Reserve Act and all of its amendments are hereby rescinded. But that would wipe out our monetary system overnight and create such havoc in the economy that it would play right into the hands of the globalists. They would use the resulting chaos as evidence that such a move was a mistake, and the American people would likely welcome a rescue from the IMF/World Bank. We would find ourselves back in the Pessimistic Scenario even though we had done the right thing.

There are certain steps that must precede the abandonment of the Fed if we are to have safe passage. The first is to convert our present fiat money into real money. That means we must create an entirely new money supply which is 100% backed by precious metal...and we must do so within a reasonably short period of time. To that end, we must establish the true value of our present fiat money so it can be exchanged for new money on a realistic basis and phased out of circulation. Here is how it can be done:

1. Repeal the legal tender laws The federal government will continue accepting Federal Reserve Notes in the payment of taxes, but everyone else will be free to accept them, reject them, or discount them as they wish. There is no need to force people to accept honest money. Only fiat money needs the threat of imprisonment to back it up. Private institutions should be free to innovate and to compete. If people want to use Green Stamps or Disney-ride coupons or Bank of America Notes as a medium of exchange, they should be free to do so. The only requirement should be faithful fulfillment of contract. If the Green-Stamp company says it will give a crystal lamp for seven books of stamps, then it should be compelled to do so. Disney should be required to accept the coupon in exactly the manner printed on the back. And, if Bank of America tells its depositors they can have their dollars back any time they want, it should be required to keep 100% backing(coins or Treasury Certificates) in its vault at all times. In the transition to a new money, it is anticipated that the old Federal Reserve Notes will continue to be widely used.

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Ron Paul Coming To Socal Sept 12th & 13th

I just got word that my favorite Presidential candidate is coming out to Southern California Sept 12th & 13th for some fundraising & campaign events. I'll have more details up as soon as I know. This is socals chance to come out and really show your support for a return to constitutional government. There for sure is going to be at least one fundraiser here in OC for $1000 to $2300 per person and another up in LA somewhere. If any readers are interested in attending the fundraiser, shoot me an email at gab200176@yahoo.com and let me know ASAP. This will fill up fast. There will also be details posted up at our Irvine Ron Paul Meetup group which BTW has over 190 people now signed up.

What Is OC's Risk With Mortgage Debt Investments???

I got to thinking after reading about the ongoing investigation of County Treasurer Chriss Street. He's under investigation by the Feds for his previous work as a bankruptcy trustee for Fruehauf Trucking Corp. This is troubling as well as him spending lavishly to appoint his office like Gordon Gecko of Wall Street fame would. I just wonder if Mr. Street or his predecessor John Moorlach has the county invested in any mortgage backed securities. This stuff is toxic right now. The secondary market has all but evaporated for this junk. There is a problem of marking these investments to the market because they are not liquid/and or they're not trading hardly at all. This could have huge consequences for OC. This has the potential to be 1994 all over again. I'm not accusing Mr. Street or Mr. Moorlach at this point of anything, but maybe an audit by the BOS to make sure there is none of this stuff on our books is in order. I would sure like to know. Here's an essay by Warren Buffett on the looming problem with this:

Marking To Myth

by: Warren Buffett

Many institutions that publicly report precise market values for their holdings or CDOs and CMOs are in truth reporting fiction. They are marking to model rather than marking to market. The recent meltdown in much of the debt market, moreover, has transformed this process into marking to myth.

Because many of these institutions are highly leveraged, the difference between "model" and "market" could deliver a huge whack to shareholders' equity. Indeed, for a few institutions, the difference in valuations is the difference between what purports to be robust health and insolvency. For these institutions, pinning down market values would not be difficult: They should simply sell 5% of all the large positions they hold. That kind of sale would establish a true value, though one still higher, no doubt, than would be realized for 100% of an oversized and illiquid holding.

In one way, I'm sympathetic to the institutional reluctance to face the music. I'd give a lot to mark my weight to "model" rather than to "market."

Tom McClintock A Ron Paul Supporter?

I think after listening to this interview that State Senator Tom McClintock did with Presidential candidate Ron Paul yesterday, I'd have to say that Dr. Paul has a new convert to his Presidential campaign. He filled in for Roger Hedgecock the other day on KOGO down in San Diego. Tom said going into the interview that he was still undecided about which GOP nominee for President he would support. Listen to the interview and decide for yourselves who McClintock is leaning towards. You see fellow Republicans, it's okay to say you support Ron Paul. I'd say having McClintock's endorsement is akin to the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval.

Friday, August 17, 2007

Federal Reserve Caves On Fighting Inflation

Well with the world financial markets melting down this week, it was only a matter of time until the Fed caved on their stated policy of fighting inflation. They cut the discount rate today by a full 50 basis points. They have done a 180 on this policy and now they are going to try and inflate their way out of this crisis. Good luck with that. This is the problem with Central Banks. They are the ones that created this problem by making money so cheap for for so long. Now they are bailing out all their buddies on Wall Street with this rate cut. This is going to end badly down the road. They have postponed the pain that needs to happen. The best thing they could have done is let the markets work. The bad debt needs to be liquidated and the excesses rung out of the market.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

When In The Course Of Human Events.....

In light of what we are seeing this week in our financial markets, I'm posting this latest You Tube video of GOP Presidential candidate Ron Paul. We need a President who understands like Dr. Paul that our country is going bankrupt and the cause of it is the leadership of both parties in Washington DC.

Thursday Market Update

This is a historic week in the market. As I write this, the Dow is down 350 points, the S&P is down 38 points, and the NASDAQ is down 55 points. There is blood in the streets. Enronwide errr Countrywide is down another $5.00 a share to $15. The Japanese Yen carry trade which hedge funds exploited for so long is absolutely blowing up in their face right now. A lot of hedge funds will be out of business after today. Gotta run.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Countrywide Financial Is The New Enron

I posted earlier this week before the start of trading on Monday that I thought Countrywide Financial would declare bankruptcy by the end of the week. Well today their stock dropped another 13% to around $21. It was down to almost $19 during the day and rallied a little(it rallied from people covering their short sales). The fact of the matter is that Countrywide is the Enron of the financial world. It is the biggest maker of mortgages in the country today. Their problem was that they've given everyone with a pulse a mortgage in the last few years and now these people are starting to default on their mortgage. There is plenty of blame to go around and I will do a post mortem on the patient after the bankrupty is declared which should be any day now.

I almost forgot to mention what Wall Street bailout cheerleader extraordinaire Larry Kudlow recommended on his show this afternoon. He wants the Fed to start buying all these worthless sub-prime & Alt A f**ked up mortgages tomorrow morning to help bail out all his Wall Street buddies. Some Republican he is. That's socialism Larry and it better not happen. These idiots made their bed and they have to lay in the big pile of steaming crap right now that they created.

Wanna Watch A Live Feeding Frenzy?

Goto the Yahoo message board for Countrywide Financial right now. The stock is down over 15% right now and 100 million shares have already traded hands. People are making millions shorting this stock right now. (Warning...some of the language on the message board is foul, but hilarious as hell).

Feds To Sheeple: Inflation Is Under Control

Boy I'm sure glad the US government statistics like the CPI say inflation is practically non-existent. They wouldn't want to lie about the real increase in the cost of food the last year because people might lose faith in the ole US dollar. Here are the real numbers for the price increases of various food items for the last year and you tell me how much inflation we have going on right now.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

The Ron Paul Revolution

Never before have I been so energized to be part of a campaign. I think I was pretty gung ho when Jim Gilchrist ran against John Campbell, but it doesn't compare to the feeling I have right now for Ron Paul and this Presidential campaign. I have learned a lot the past few years about the business of campaigning through my tireless/unpaid volunteer efforts. I am going to leverage what I have learned the past few years to help this campaign any way I can. I think a post over at Lew Rockwell has it best:

Never in American political history has there been a booming volunteer-driven, decentralized effort like Ron Paul's. All over the country, tens of thousands of self-directed individuals and groups print their own yard signs, banners, push cards, and bumper stickers; organize their own neighborhoods, towns, and states, and regions; rally & raise money; go door-to-door; demonstrate near malls & traffic intersections; register and organize voters; educate themselves in the new and old classics of liberty; create YouTubes; make phone calls; dominate FaceBook and MySpace; set up Yahoo groups, blogs, mailing lists, and Meetups; and even buy their own billboards. In an industry used to central direction & very tight control, this is a spontaneous and perhaps unstoppable revolution. In DC, they're feeling the ground move under their feet, & fearing the future. In America, they've seldom felt so much hope.

There is no doubt in my mind that Ron Paul and this movement behind him represents the greatest opportunity in my lifetime to restore our republic. Get involved now.

Sunday, August 12, 2007

TIMBERRRRRRRRRR !!!!!

Here is a quick lesson in technical analysis. This is a chart of the financial sector index. It is a mess and a huge red flag to to get out of the market. If you take a look at the bottom of the chart, it shows the huge uptick in volume of shares being traded in this down leg. We have also broke through the 50 day moving average. The next stop is the 200 day moving average. Once through there, it is ciao bella. I'm begging you guys, get out while the gettin is still somewhat good. Take your profits off the table and go into cash/money market/physical metals i.e gold & silver.

I'm Dreading This Week

It's only Sunday morning and already I have some serious butterflies in my stomach of what is going to happen this week in the markets. I'll probably be up all night watching Bloomberg & CNBC Asia to see what happens when the markets open over there in a few hours. I truly believe we are going to have a complete meltdown in the markets. I wish I weren't so frickin pessimistic, but I'm looking at the reality of the real estate market in a complete freefall and a derivitives bomb going off led by panicked hedge funds sinking every type of paper investment. A couple of predictions this week: the biggest mortgage lender in the country, Countrywide(CFC) will go BK, the Fed will step in and add hundreds of billions of dollars more out of thin air trying to stop the bubble from bursting(it won't work), an interest rate cut of a full 1% by the Fed to try and save their banker friends(it won't work), stocks will be down over 10%, and the dollar continuing its journey downward and the best imitation monopoply money the world has ever seen.

If anyone would like a good book to read about what has happened in the past with a huge hedge fund that went belly up, I would recommend "When Genius Failed" by Roger Lowenstein. He chronicles the demise of Long Term Capital Management(LTCM), the largest "quant" or quantitative hedge fund ever to collapse. The guys that ran the fund were all MIT, Yale, & Harvard type guys. I think Mr. Lowenstein is going to have a lot more material to write about when these next few months are over.

Who Will Get US Out Of Iraq???

According to the NY Times, not any of the frontrunning Democratic Presidential candidates. All the Republican candidates want us to keep staying there except for one that wants to get out ASAP. I wonder who that one person could be. It couldn't be Ron Paul could it? Yes it could. So I say this to my Democratic friends...if you want to keep staying over in Iraq for years and years in an open ended commitment, vote for Hillary or Barack Obama. If you want the troops home like over 70% of the people do, you only have one choice of someone who could actually win and get this accomplished. Vote for Ron Paul.

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Ron Paul Ames Straw Poll Speech

Wow! What a speech. And did you see the number of people marching in for him? I like Laura Ingram, but she was very condescending towards Dr. Paul when she introduced him. That's okay because pretty soon, the neo conservatives are going to be confronted with the reality of Ron Paul being our nominee. The energy of this campaign is unbelievable. I can't wait to see the results tonight.

Ron Paul On Larry Kudlow's Show

Money Out Of Thin Air

Today was another watershed day in the markets. The Fed today has pumped an eye popping $38 billion dollars into buying junk mortage debt today from flailing hedge funds and institutions. That's 38 with a B billion dollars. The name of the game is bailout when the shit hits the fan like it is now. If you or I tried to do what the Fed did today it's called counterfeiting and you can go to jail on a felony if convicted. When the Fed does it, it's called "adding liquidity" or calming the markets down. What this really is, is a giant F you to the value of our US dollar. Say hello to inflation. The Federal Reserve a big cruel joke. They have no idea what is going on right now. What we're seeing right now is the unraveling of the alchemy of modern finance the way its been done for the last 80 or so years. If anyone wants a good book to understand what the Fed is doing right now and why they're doing it, go pick up "The Creature From Jekyll Island by G Edward Griffin over at Mr. Griffin's website Reality Zone or Amazon.com

Irvine GOP Gathering Last Night

Last night the two Irvine GOP groups, The Irvine Republican Council and South Coast Republican Forum(affectionately named "Scruffies") got together over at the Irvine Duck Club. It was a chance to get some updates from our local elected representatives on what is happening up in Sacramento, Irvine City Hall, and the Irvine School Board.

The California budget update was given by State Senator Tom Harman. He told us that the Republicans are holding firm on the budget. They are holding out for a balanced budget...as they should and are to be commended for it.

Assemblyman DeVore gave us an update on his initiative to end the ban of building new nuclear power plants. He made the point that for California to meet its growing demand for electricity, the state is going to have to start generating more power. Since California has passed very restrictive greenhouse gas emissions regulations, the only way to get the power we are going to need is by building some more nuclear power plants. Chuck has shown great leadership on this issue. We are not going to meet our growing power needs through solar, wind, or hydro-electric power. Nuclear is the most cost efficient way to accomplish this and the most enviro friendly to do it.

Christina Shea told us what has been going at City Hall. It is something that all Irvine citizens should be embarrassed about. I don't know where to start. First we have a total lack of respect by Larry, Beth & Suhkee for the way they treat Christina & Steven at Council meetings & Great Pork board meetings. They are running Irvine like a dictatorship. Christina related a few stories about her dealings recently with Mayor Krom that everyone in the room just shaking their heads in disgust. Evidently, Mayor Krom went off on a behind the scenes profanity laced tirade against Christina for having the gall to ask questions during GP board meetings. The current makeup of the Council majority is bought and paid for by real estate developers. They are all in for the almighty dollar. The have been getting their way on almost every project to come before the Council, traffic or quality of life be damned. It's a pay to play scheme if you will. As some may have noticed, you can't drive through Irvine anymore during rush hours without encountering some form of gridlock and it is only going to get a lot worse with the current projects in the pipeline. She also spoke about the mandate from the league of cities that Irvine build 21,000 units of low income housing. She said it was the league of cities way of exacting some retribution for us not building an airport at El Toro. I find it richly ironic that we fought tooth & nail not have the airport built at El Toro because of all the traffic it would have brought, but we're now building thousands of high density housing projects that essentially are going to have the same or worse effect on traffic. The law of unintended consequences at work or Murphy's Law I guess. Until people get fed up and start become activists for change, we will not get any change.

Myself, Anthony Quo, and Zac Morgan all had a chance to put in a plug for our Presidential preferences. Anthony spoke about Mitt Romney. Zac was pimping for Mike Huckabee and I completely flubbed my pitch for Ron Paul. Note to self: be a little more prepared next time. Oh well.

Thursday, August 09, 2007

Memo To All My Readers: Get Liquid ASAP

I hope people take what I have to say next under advisement. The mortgage market has all but collapsed. There are hedge funds out there right now that are in deep shit. They have all been holding onto their junk mortgage backed securities hoping against hope that the market will recover or that there would simply be some liquidity for them to sell. Alas there is no liquidity at all for this crappy investment right now. This is the tip of the iceberg if you asked me. The stock market sold off huge again today on news that some hedge funds in France suspended redemptions because they don't know what price their investments are worth! Normally at the end of the trading day, most investments get "marked to the market". In other words, they settle at the last traded price of the day. But when you have no trades happening, you can't know what the investment is worth.

It is my advise that people get out of the stock market as soon as possible. Try to sell on rally days...if we have one. The stock market gets really volatile near market tops which is what I believe we have right now. The parallels of right now and the year 2000 when we had the last stock market peak are scary. It also goes without saying that if no mortgages are being made, the housing market is going to collapse as well. It is already happening in lots of places. We have been fairly lucky in OC so far, but the pain is coming. Mark it down. I just want everyone not to lose everything they have been saving. I believe we could see a 50% or greater correction in the stock market and just as much in housing as well. Sorry to be so negative, but I had to get this off my chest like Jim Cramer did the other day.

Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Ron Paul Is Dominating The GOP Field Online Right Now

If the next GOP nominee was selected based on who is dominating the internet and getting the most hits on their Presidential websites, Ron Paul would win by a landslide. But as we saw with Howard Dean in 2004 for the Democrats, this is not necessarily going to translate to him winning the GOP nomination. I like our chances right now though. He presently has over 44% market share. His closest GOP competitor is Mitt Romney who has an anemic 16%. We are also growing our Meetup grassroots volunteers at an exponential pace right now. This is really amazing. The MSM is asleep at the switch right now. They are stuck in the old paradigm.

The betting public have also increased the odds of him winning the nomination from 15 to 1....down to 8 to 1. I can tell he is gaining traction by perusing the conservative blogosphere and starting to notice the attacks on Ron starting to come from the George W Bush kool aid drinking brigade i.e. Hugh Hewitt, Charles Johnson, etc.

Sunday, August 05, 2007

Anaheim Angels In A Rat Race

So I saw this morning that the Big A is one of the largest receptacles for mice & rats that has ever existed. It's so nasty. It doesn't really make me want to go out to the ball game and enjoy a vermin infested hot dog and nachos. And what's up with them waiting a full twelve hours before cleaning the ballpark? No wonder it's rat wonderland. Memo to Angel management: Get the park cleaned up ASAP after the game is over and call the Orkin Man. This is not the kind of PR you are looking for when trying to attract people to come out to the Big A.

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

Robert Novak Endorses Ron Paul & Another Must See You Tube Video

Today long time DC political reporter extraordinaire Robert Novak has come out and endorsed Ron Paul for President in a speech before the Heritage Foundation. This is great news. I'd also like my all my readers who are undecided on who to vote for for President to watch this important You Tube video. Please forward it to all your friends and family tagged for must viewing. Ron has the big mo right now. Jump on the bandwagon.